Sundays Alternative Take: Pale Honey - Myles Manley - Ida Wenøe - Happy Camper - ALIA
Pale Honey - Why Do I Always Feel This Way.Background - Kicking off with a Swedish headline tour and much-anticipated sweaty days in the studio, 2017 is set to be Pale Honey’s year. Having wrapped up their praised debut album release, the self-titled ‘Pale Honey’ (May 2015) with live shows across Europe including sold-out shows in the UK, the band is ready to unleash rising danger upon the world with a new album set for release later this year. With the single release ‘Real Thing’ (October 2016) the band gave listeners a hint of what to expect from their upcoming album
Where 'Real Thing' paired fervent guitar and drums, on 'Why Do I Always Feel This Way' Pale Honey switch their focus to synthesizers and vocals bursting with yearning. Recorded with producer Anders Lagerfors in Nacksving Studios in their hometown of Gothenburg, Sweden. Lyrics of love, jealousy and denial are elegantly driven by singer Tuva Lodmark in a way that it is sure to leave no heart untouched. Tour dates on our tour page. Facebook here.
There is a fine mix between minimal synths (albeit pretty potent) and vocals on 'Why Do I Always Feel This Way'. The musical layers gently build as does the emotion and atmosphere, without losing the stripped back feel.
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Myles Manley - Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town.Background - "Relax; Enjoy your night upon the town!" with this utterance Myles Manley is being at once both sincere and fatalistic. "I always knew I was the best!" says the dashing and supercilious young artist with a smile, "but at certain points I realise that that might not really be the case. It is always the case though." Myles Manley makes idiosyncratic folk music on guitar with rhythms and colours snatched from various places, most recently Eric B and Rakim, Micachu and The Shapes, Moondog, The Clash's Sandinista, Jinx Lennon, Frankie Cosmos, etc. "I started listening to a lot of early hiphop for some reason and what I loved about it was the clunkiness of the sounds, and the excitement you can hear at a whole new world of opportunities. I bought an MPC and started making idiot beats late at night that I'd write songs to. I've always had an ear for weird rhythms and I was able to make stuff that you'd never come up with rehearsing in a room with a drummer."
Myles Manley was born in northern England and lived in a few places there until his family moved to Sligo, Ireland, where he became the village indie boy. "I'm in love with songs. What I am seeking in my music is naivety and deliciousness; what I find is also an escape from anxiety. And if you want to really hear it, imagine early days, running round a dead, shithole town at 4am in August, with a person you haven't kissed, want to kiss and will never kiss. No power. Night night." "Relax; enjoy your night upon the town" is set for release on February 17th via Dublin's Little L Records, available on 7" and all major digital platforms. See our tour dates page for live dates. Bandcamp pre order here, website here.
After a minute or so of watching the video I still wasn't sure whether to feature 'Relax; Enjoy Your Night Upon The Town'. Something drew me back for another watch and listen, and I have to say I am now totally hooked on this song. Having watched and listened to a couple of other songs by Myles, I think I get it, whatever I love it.
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Background - A new track Lyla taken from Danish artist Ida Wenøe's (pronounced EE-da ven-O) debut solo release Time Of Ghosts (April 7th) has been shared. While she has an obvious appreciation of Americana, Ida's sound is very definitely laced with more English undertones: the kind of sound Edward Woodward might have heard downstairs in the local inn had the Wicker Man been filmed in a remote Danish village, while Sarah Lund scoured for clues in her jumper. Like the best of the Nordic Noir leaving the Danish mainland, the recordings are at once both sonically pure and grimy; there’s a shared loneliness that makes you feel that you’re not at all; and all the while there is an honesty to the songwriting that tugs at your sleeve.
While still fronting the much-feted Boho Dancer, 2014 brought a successful collaboration with Dangers of The Sea, a series of sold out supports in Denmark with Teitur, and a spate of tremendously well received shows both in London and at The Great Escape in Brighton. Now, with a deep breath in her crystal lungs those two brilliant, oxidised copper green eyes flickered across the mixing desk once more as she recorded her debut solo record Time Of Ghosts, reunited with producer Jonas Tranberg who recorded Boho’s first EP. Website here, Facebook here, see our tour dates page for live dates.
'Lyla' is a gentle uncomplicated song with beautiful vocals and a melodic feel throughout. I'm beginning to wonder if Americana has something going on with Scandinavia, the synergies are definitely there, no complaints from me whatever the situation.
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Happy Camper - Easy Way Out.Background - Happy Camper announces its long-awaited return in 2017 with a brand new album: Gravity. First single ‘Easy Way Out’ released on Excelsior Recordings.
‘Easy Way Out’ represents a significant stylistic shift for Happy Camper, without sacrificing that unmistakable combination of pop levity and powerful subject matter. "‘Easy Way Out’ describes that moment when you lose your own intuition. Something that appears safe and ordinary at first, then suddenly feels very foreign and strange. Within these moments, it becomes harder and harder to assess your next move. Whereas someone from the outside looking in often has a better read on things,” says Job Roggeveen, founder and songwriter of Happy Camper.
Happy Camper is a band and multimedia-project founded by Dutch musician, producer, composer, animator and graphic designer Job Roggeveen. With an extensive cast of guest musicians Happy Camper released two albums brimmed with gleaming and sonorous pop, tunes heavily inspired by chansons and film soundtracks. Subsequently, Happy Camper manifested into a comprehensive, awe-inspiring audiovisual live experience, comprised of up to twenty musicians.Website here, Facebook here.
A bright and breezy vibe runs throughout 'Easy Way Out' whilst the lyrics concentrate on a more vulnerable question. It's pop and very good pop music at that, surely that's enough boxes ticked for one song.
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Background - ALIA is the visionary behind Feminine Medicine™, a series of collaborative original music albums and stage shows that brings more feminine voices to electronic dance music. After years performing in the festival scene, ALIA set out to co-create with her favorite female artists when she noticed that few other women were being featured on electronic music stages, and that only 3 of the Top 100 DJs in the world are female. Volume 1 of Feminine Medicine features ALIA’s collaborations with numerous other female musicians including revered bass music producer Imagika Om, and revered indie vocalists Heather Christie and Ixchel Prisma.
"I have been working on the music for this project for the last two years. I am so excited to finally share it with you! I really want to thank the incredible women and men I collaborated with on the music for this album, especially Imagika Om, Heather Christie, Tara Divina, Ixchel Prisma, Amma Li Grace and Theo Grace of Entheo, Liquid Love Drops, Eden and Ilan of Amadora, Kaia Ra, and Chris James aka Pattern Disrupt, who spent countless hours in the studio with me. What a beautiful journey we took together". Website here, Facebook here.
The first track 'Madre' on 'Feminine Medicine™ Volume 1' had me instantly hooked and the following pieces are a phenomenal collection of ideas, crafted together to provide something very special. Thankfully I can feature them all. I personally feel that this beautiful musical collection will appeal well beyond traditional EDM fans, potentially from Gong to Vangelis, or Hawkwind to Leftfield. Enjoy!
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